
The Salvation Army 




HtADQUARTtRS TOR THE, N Z, W 
Number 850 Washingtoi 



ENGLAND STATE-S 



'Boston, Mass., Dec. 15, 1903. 
Dear Friend;- i 

Enclosed you will find extracts from the press relative to the 
dinners given on Thanksgiving, as ^Iso last Christmas Day — which 
dinners were only made possible through the generosity of our 
friends whom we moat gratefully thank. 

The accompanying brochure sets forth incidents that many of us 
who are well-fed, well clothed andj housed are not familiar with. 

It is an awful fact that right ,'in our very midst, within a 
stone's throw of many of- us, the Ijsan, gaunt spectre of starvation 
stalks in and out of hundreds of homes. He comes v/here the father 
and bread-winner has "been taken down by sickness. He is seen in 
the homes of the fatherless and wi'iows, and heeds not the orphan's 
cry for bread. His visits are frequent to the home where the 
father has passed the "dead line," or in' other v^ords "''tod 61d*"for 
his employer. He is well known in the hones of drunken parents, 
or where the father is sent to prison, which calamity does not in 
any way lessen the needs of the N/ives and children. He comes to 
the old and infirm, to the sick and the afflicted, and in such 
homes the receiving and exchanging of Christmas gifts is an un- 
known joy* What to many of us are the ordinary thitigs of life 
would be to them luxuries indeed. 

On Christmas Day we want to send out baskets of food to the 
homes of the poor, sufficient for 15,000 people. To those who 
have no homes we wish to provide dinners from 3,000 to 5,000. 

V/e desire to give Christmas gifts to not less than three thou- 
sand poor children. To see some of the little tots receiving a 
doll for the first time in their lives — is a sight never to be 
forgotten, and well repays those who have made sacrifices for the 
gifts. Garments will be given to the ragged, shoes to the shoe- 
less, and coal to the fireless homes. 

Preceding Christmas, and along through the winter months hun- 
dreds of homes will be visited; warm clothing and groceries, etc., 
will be sent out to meet the needs of the cold, shivering, desti- 
tute women and children. 

It is your great privilege and mine to relieve some of the 
misery and suffering that exists; to banish some of the sorrows; 
to bring cheer to some of the hopeless and despairing of life. 
Will you co-operate with us in this privilege, and in doing so, 
make the Christmas of others, as well as that of your own, more 
enjoyable by realizing how much more blessed it is to give than to 
receive. In thankful anticipation, 

SincerelN^ yours. 





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UPON NEW ENGLAND'S POOR 



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\ "Inasmuch as ye haVe done it unto one of I 



the least of these my brethren^ ye haVe done it 
unto me/'— Matthew 25: 40. 



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"In Starvation's Shadow." 



A PATHETIC STORY OF ADVERSITY RELATED TO A 
SALVATION ARHY OFFICER. 



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husband for 
night on the 



S Mrs. Ferris, one of the Salvation Army officers, 
was proceeding to her post of duty she was accosted 
by a stalwart pohceman who said, ** Excuse me 
please, Mrs. Ferris, I wanted to speak to you about 
a young woman. She has been arrested with her 
vagrancy. They have been found sitting night after 
park benches ; they have no home, no money, and 
it would seem no friends, and — well, you know, Mrs. Ferris, 
what the law says about that kind of people, that is, if we do 
our duty.'* 

Hastening with the officer, Mrs. Ferris threw a swift glance 
at the wan, worn, pallid face, hidden in the shade of the cell before 
them. *' And she looks young; what is it ?" she asked of the officer. 
**Just what 1 told you, Mrs. Ferris, vagrancy ; but though I had 
to do my duty, I am honestly sure that both of them, husband and 
wife, are straight, and that is why I thought I'd speak to you." 
** Thank you," said Mrs. Ferris, '* I am sure you have done a 
kindly act." 

Going straightway to the officer in charge, and gaining per- 
mission to speak to the young woman in question, she was soon 
convinced that here indeed was a real tragedy in everyday life. 




In the men's section was the young 

husband, himself as pallid, worn and w^an 

as the wife, and who by misfortune had 

long been out of work.' 

This is the story : They had married 

young, and when the husband broke down, 

• the brave young wife had undertaken, 

cheerfully and bravely, to help him out. 

She had secured w^ork in a steam laundry, 

..„- . and together they pinched and scraped, 

" Please give me some -i , it i • i . ^ 

more turkey." ^^^^^ ^^ would be m a better position to 

take his place as home maker. So they 
lived until a sad day brought a bitter stroke. Toiling bravely at 
her machine in the laundry, the hapless young wife met with an 
accident that so crushed her right hand that she could no longer 
use it. They had made a modest little home nest, but now bit by 
bit it was rent, asunder, until there was nothing left, and when the 
detestable landlady flung out an infamous suggestion as to the ease 
with which the young wife could live if she so wished, the stricken 
husband and wife took hands and went into the streets, not knowing 
whither to turn. Their few personal belongings they sold for food. 
As for the rest of it, they w^alked all nights so long as they could, 
then they sat upon benches in a park, until they were ordered to 
move on. That was their life for many weeks, he sick, she crippled; 
yet under the eye of God both unstained ; so they sat through many 
a winter's night, until they wctq repeatedly recognized and finally 
arrested as vagrants. 

That brave little wife is with Jesus to-day. Weakened by 
starvation, sapped even to her vitals by continued exposure, though 
everything was done for her and an excellent position found for her 
husband, she never recovered from the effects of those winter nights 
upon the park benches. 

''I met the husband the other day," said Mrs. Ferris re- 
cently; **he cried like a child in trying to tell me some of her last 
words, and of the new love which God had shed into her heart, and 
through hers into his own." 




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**Went to Roof to Starve." 

After a week's vain effort to get 
work, starving and footsore, Charles 
M'Kenna crept • up to the roof top 
at 42 Battery Street, yesterday morn- 
ing, to sleep, where he was found in 
almost a delirium at 9.50 o'clock yes- 
terday morning by a frightened Italian 
woman, who at once notified the 
police. He was taken to the Relief 
Station, where the doctors held out 
little hope for his recovery. 

Two nights he slept at the Way- 
farers' Lodge, and then was told not to 
come again. Without i friend in the 
city, or a place where he might rest his head, he was driven from 
place to place, frequently taking refuge in a tumbled-down shed 
near the entrance of the East Boston Ferry. On Wednesday 
night, however, the watchman saw him creeping in just before i 2 
o'clock, and fearful of fire, drove him from the place. 

The doctors at the Relief Station say that M'Kenna is suffer- 
ing from exhaustion and starvation. He had evidently not eaten 
anything for several days. — From Boston Post, October ly, 19OJ, 



**Good coffee you serve 
here." 



<« Italian Probably Starved." 



A probable case of starvation was that of Matteo Carmealo, an 
Italian, aged forty, who was found dead in his bed at 38 Pitts 
Street. Carmealo was a peddler, and used to sell trinkets, pencils 
and the like around the streets, securing what pittance he could 
to keep body and soul together. 

It was noticed that the man has been failing fast for the past 
few days, and that his sales were gradually growing less and less. 
Early on this morning the landlord of the place on Pitts Street went 
to Carmealo' s room to call the man and found him dead. — From 
Boston Evening Record, October 26, i^OJ. 



•* Young Woman Found 
Starving." 

A police patrol from Sta- 
tion 3 drove up to the Char- 
don Street Home with a 
delicate-looking and modestly 
dressed woman of thirty-three, 
who was found lying in the 
street outside her home on 
Nashua Street yesterday morn- 
ing in an insensible and starving 
condition. When she revived 
sufficiently to speak she gave 
her name as Mrs. Alice Stark, 
62 Nashua Street, and said that 
her -husband had disappeared a few 
days ago, after having disposed of 
all the furniture, leaving her in a precarious condition, with nothing 
to subsist on. Her landlord would not listen to her case and forced 
her to leave the rooms she had been occupying, because she was 
unable to pay the rent. She is now in the hospital suffering from 
severe bronchial trouble and exhaustion, caused by her recent ex- 
periences. — From Boston Post, October ^, J-QOJ. 




like the oranges best." 



** Cripple Dies of Starvation." 

Helplessly crippled and unable to earn a living, but too proud 
to accept it from others, an Italian was found dead in a poorly 
furnished attic in the top of a boarding house in the West End 
yesterday morning. Three weeks previous the dead man came to 
the house emaciated with some serious illness, without friends or 
money. He grew weaker every day, and was unable towards the 
last to make more than a few pennies each day, not enough to 
provide for a sick man, so that he actually starved to death for want 
of proper nourishment. The landlord told the police and officers that 




he had oifered to assist the man, both 
financially and by giving him food, 
but he had refused all offers, saying 
he was all right, but sick. — From 
Boston Post, October 27, ipOJ. 



A Last Christmas 
Incident. 

Weakened by exposure, faint- 
ing from starvation and loss of sleep, 
a woman last year attended our 
Christmas dinner, bearing in her arms 

an infant but a few weeks old. With xhe one feast of the year. 

faltering steps she came to the Mechanic's 

Building on Christmas morning to availherself of the privilege of 
a Christm s basket, but the strain w^as too much for her, and just 
as she got within the doors and was about to take the coveted prize 
she staggered and was about to fall, when Colonel Evans, who was 
standing near by, rushed to her and supported her in his arms. 
The httle child was taken care of by one of our tender-hearted 
lassies, and its little body was so emaciated from exposure that a 
physician who was present said it was the most pitiable sight he 
had ever seen. 

The woman was revived and cared for, and it w^as found that 
all the clothing she had on was a thin cotton wrapper, w^hile her 
shoes were thin and worn and soaked with icy water. Perhaps 
this woman was not one of the *^ deserving poor," as she evidently 
had been drinking, but she w^as hungry and sick and almost naked. 
Let us on the day we celebrate as the birthday of the Friend of 
sinners do our utmost to show the Christ love to the destitute and 



despairing. 




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The Salvation Army's Christmas Work. 

The foregoing record of ** Starvation's Shadow" has been 
selected at random from the newspapers of the past few weeks, in the 
busy, bustling, wealthy and cultured city of Boston, and oh, that 
we could only know the hidden tales of sorrow and starvation kept 
silentlv beneath the breast of the suffering father, mother or little child ! 



Last Christmas, in Boston alone, more than ten thousand un- 
cooked Christmas dinners were distributed to over two thousand 
needy or destitute families. Each basket contained not only a fine 
phimp four-pound chicken, but potatoes, cranberries, celery, a loaf 
of bread, one pie, coffee, nuts and candy, apples and oranges, and 
little can we tell the deep joy they caused in the hundreds and 
thousands of homes into which thev were received. 



This year our officers are already at work, visiting from house 
to house in the poorest sections of the city, 
and through their skilful, womanly efforts 
we expect to find fully this number of 
needy families to whom we will again dis- 
tribute the Christmas baskets. 



More than eight thousand pounds 
of chicken were used last year in 
filling the Christmas baskets. 

In addition to this there 
were two thousand pounds of 
turkey served at the tables in the 
Mechanic's Building to more 
than four thousand hungry, desti- 
tute men, women and children. 




A good square meal. 



' Can I have another 
piece of pie? *' 



The ragged, the shoeless and the desti- 
tute will be there, and to those most 
needy will be given hundreds of garments 
and shoes. 

In addition to all that has been done 
for adults, we expect that no less than 
3,000 of the poor children in Boston will 
look to us for Christmas joy. A mam- 
moth Christmas tree, larger than ever be- 
fore, will be erected in the Mechanic's 
Building, which will be crowded from 
floor to topmost spray with thousands 
of dolls, picture books, games and other 
delights so dear to the child's heart. 



The sights we saw last Christmas were many of them touching 
in the extreme. How the poorly, but neatly dressed mother with 
her dear little children came to receive their only Christmas gifts,their 
real tears of joy at seeing the little ones provided for at this time when 
all is joy and gladness, and without which theirs would have been 
but misery and woe! 

Our friends are urgently asked to contribute as much as possible 
in the line of clothing, shoes, etc., for men, women and chil- 
dren. Warm blankets and other clothing are specially needed, and 
through the distribution of goods of this kind during the servere 
months of winter, as well as at Christmastime, we have been 
enabled to bring help and cheer to thousands of the most needy 
and destitute. .^ 

This year the Mechanic's Building on Huntington Avenue 
has been secured for the Salvation Army's Christmas. 

At 8.30 A. M. will be the distribution of the Christmas baskets. 

I I A. M. Distribution of gifts from the mammoth Christmas 
tree to 3,000 children. 

12.30 P. M. The public dinner to 4,000 poor. 

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STARVING AT SEVENTY. 

He splits kindling to earn a few cents to keep himself and 
aged wife from starving. 




How to Help. 

Make your check or money 
order payable to " The Salvation 
Army, Inc.," and mail to 
Colonel WilUam Evans, 850 
Washington Street, Boston, 
Mass. Should more be re- 
ceived than is necessary for the 
Christmas work, the balance 
will be used for our winter 
relief and other w^ork. 



Solid Comfort. 



Mechanic's Building, Boston, December 25, 1903. 

20,000 

Will have to be provided for. This is what it will take: 



10,000 pounds potatoes. 
10,000 pounds chicken. 

3,000 pounds turkey. 

3,000 loaves bread. 


3,000 pounds mixed nuts. 
3,000 pounds mixed candy. 

60 boxes oranges. 

35 barrels apples. 


3,500 pies. 

2,500 one-half bushel baskets. 


500 pairs children's shoes. 
100 pairs adults' shoes. 


1,500 bunches celery. 

30 barrels ground coffee. 


.500 prs. children's stockings. 
5,000 pes. warm underclothing. 


20 bags turnip. 
200 pounds butter. 
600 pounds ground coffee. 
300 gallons made coffee. 


1,000 outer garments. 
1,500 dolls. 

1,000 miscellaneous toys. 
1,000 balls. 


100 pounds suet. 
3,000 small baskets. 


1,000 games. 

500 hockey sticks. 



NOTE. — The half-tone cuts used in this booklet are from actual photographs 
taken at the Mechanic's Building last Christmas Day by Mr. Thomas E. Marr, 
photographer, 180 Tremont Street, Boston. 

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A Few Interesting Facts. 

The bread that will be used in the Salvation Army's Christmas 
work in Boston is of such a quantity that if the loaves could be 
piled one on top of the other the pile would be more th^n Jiz^e times 
as high as the Bunker Hill Monument! 



If the turkeys and chickens could be marshalled in single file 
along Beacon Street they would form an unbroken rank reaching 
from the Massachusetts State House to Gloucester Street. 

A notable guessing contest — how many berries in the thirty 
barrels needed to make the cranberry sauce for the hungry multitude ? 

The assortment of 1,500 dolls, 1,000 games, 1,000 balls, 
500 hockey sticks and 1,000 miscellaneous toys form an amount 
about live times as great as the stock of many city toy stores. 




These people will all be there. 

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Winter Visitation and Relief Work. 

The indiscriminate giving of charity has undoubtedly done more 
to encourage poverty than any other one thing. The great problem 
of to-day is not <*how much can I give," but ^* how wisely." 
So-called ''organized charity" has, in a measure, so entangled 
its pursestrings in the meshes of official ** red tape" that often the 
need has become a tragedy before relief is forthcoming. 

Our methods are quick, sure and effective. 

No relief is given until the applicant's home has actually been 
visited by one of our tactful and sympathetic visitation officers and 
their need ascertained by actual investigation. 

This is done at once, and, if needy , the relief is immediately pro- 
vided through groceries, clothing or fuel, as the case may be. 

Not only are applications thus dealt with, but our corps and 
slum officers, together with special staff of visitation officers, are con- 
tinually working amidst the poorest of our city, bringing cheer and 
comfort, and finding many cases of acute need amongst those never 
applying for help to any charitable source, and to such bring sub- 
stantial aid m such an unassuming manner as to cause neither loss 
of self-respect nor comment from their neighbors. 

In the past year thousands of cases of acute destitution have 
been found and relieved. 

Your money will enable us to do more of this work. We 
have willing hearts and hands, but it takes hundreds and thousands 
of dollars to achieve results. 




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